Calibrating soldering equipment: How-to calibrate a BK3050 solder pot

This post will be part of a “How-to” series on calibrating soldering equipment.

In order to properly calibrate the temperature for your BK3050 solder pot, you will require an accurate and precise thermocouple, capable of tolerating up to 500 degrees celsius. If you don’t already own one, we sell a type K thermocouple, with a range of -14 to 750 degree celsius, accurate to +/- 1%, with a precision of 1 digit. Type k thermocouples work well in calibrating soldering equipment of all kinds, not just this post. You will also need a small pool of solder in order to get an accurate result. Typically you should use a solder ingot with a solder pot, but in our case, you only need a few mm of solder to properly calibrate the soldering equipment.

The first step in this procedure is to remove the 6 front screws on the BK3050, and insert your thermometer into the pool of solder.

After you’ve opened the unit, there are two blue trim style potentiometers(pots). The one on the far left is used for setting the displayed temperature.

To calibrate this setting, set the front panel button to display “real” temp, then use your thermocouple to read what the temperature is. Make sure you have a few mm of solder in the crucible when you perform this step, otherwise you may get an erroneous result. Turn the pot either clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the temperature on the display readout to match the temperature shown on your thermometer. When this has been set to the highest accuracy you can achieve, we move to the right pot to calibrate the temperature regulation sensor.

Push the front panel button again, this time to the set display to readout the degrees the temperature display is set to.

Now, turn the pot in the center of the board clockwise or counterclockwise just like we did in the previous step.

This step takes some time, and patience as you’ll need to wait for the solder pot to readjust it’s hold temperature. The controller will either apply heat, or turn the heater off based on the sensor reading, so setting this accurately is a high priority. If the heater isn’t heating enough, you need to set this pot to read a lower temperature, and vice versa.

After you’ve finished this step, you’ve finished the calibration of your solder pot. Check back for for links, and the continuance of our calibrate soldering equipment HowTo’s.

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